Remembering the 40's

Ive Often Heard It Said That Everybody Has A Story To Tell And I Know This Is True But I Have Found Also That We All Have A Yearning To Tell Our Story. Also We Have Numerous Ways To Do It: Through Voice Writing Instruments And Machines Through Photographic And Digital Images That We Make Or Assemble And Also Through The Pattern Of Our Living And In The Things That We Create. Truman Fields Is A Many-Faceted Person And He Has Left Plenty Of Evidence Of His Interesting Story To Supplement What He Tells Us In This Book. He Has Been A Persistent Student Teacher And Craftsman A Successful Businessman And An Award-Winning Tennis Player A Superb Craftsman And A Public Servant. He Was Born In The Center Of The Appalachian Coal Fields Where He Attended Local Schools Until His Father Perceived That Truman Had A Desire To Learn More Than Might Be Possible Locally Sent His Reluctant Son To Berea Foundation High School At The Age Of Sixteen. There In Addition To The Usual Academic Subjects He Began Probing The Complexities Of Electronics Metal-And-Wood And Of Course Basketball And Tennis. Without Money He Was A Half-Day Student Meaning He Took Classes For Half The Day And Worked In The Rest Of The Day For His Room And Board. Thus It Would Have Taken Him Five Years To Complete High School So Ever Restless And Inquisitive He Decided At The Age Of Twenty To Join The Navy For Four Years. The Navy Sent Him To Electronic School Before Assigning Him To A Destroyer Tender. On This Ship He Saw A Great Deal Of The World. At Age 24 He Re-Entered The Foundation School For A Semester To Finish High School And Then Enrolled At Berea College. There He Majored In Industrial Arts And Played Tennis So Well That He Was A Finalist In Several Tournaments. In College He Met Joyce Barnes From Tennessee And They Were Married. After Graduation Truman Taught In Louisville And Then Moved To Cleveland Ohio Where He And Joyce Taught For 30 Years. There Truman Also Worked Successfully Part-Time As A Real Estate Broker And He Coached Tennis At Baldwin Wallace College. Joyce And Truman Reared Two Daughters In Cleveland And Their Grandchildren Who Know Little Of Life In The Appalachian Mountains Became The Main Inspiration For This Book. When Joyce And Truman Retired From Teaching Their Love Of Berea College And The Berea Community Drew Them Back To Kentucky. Here They Have Managed Several Rental Properties And Developed Home-Building Sights. Truman Was Elected For Several Terms To Berea City Council Taught Students Faculty And Community People To Make Furniture In The Colleges Woodworking Shop And Coached The College Tennis Team. He Also Continued To Follow The Tennis Circuits Winning Many Gold Metals In His Age Class. Joyce Has Also Been Much Involved In The Arts And Crafts Scene For Which Berea Is Famous. She And Truman Are Active Members Of Union Church The Mother Church Of Berea College. They Are Also Generous Supporters Of Berea College In The Knowledge That The Lives Of Other Young People From The Mountains Will Be Enriched There As Theirs Have Been. In This Book Joyce And Trumans Grandchildren And Others Will Learn Much About The Life Truman Lived As A Boy About The One-Room School He Attended His Classmates The Games They Played The Spelling Bees The Sporting Contests The Victories And Disappointments In His Budding Life His Teachers And Pastors Vigorous Efforts To Teach Right From Wrong And His Own Family History. Along The Way From Big Creek To Berea To Louisville And Cleveland And Back To Berea We Learn Trumans Story And The Events That Shaped Him From The Lad On The Cover In Happy Jack Overalls Looking With Sharp And Expectant Eyes To The Disciplined Tireless Teacher Public Servant Athlete Auctioneer Craftsman And Student Of All Kentucky Things Today. Hes Been A Little Modest However Like Most Mountain People In Telling His Story. So Keep In Mind All That He Has Done All His Interests And...